WHO convenes emergency meeting on Congo’s Ebola outbreak

File: Congolese health officials prepare to disinfect people and buildings at the general referral hospital in Mbandaka, Congo. AP photo

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The World Health Organization says it is convening a meeting on Wednesday to determine whether Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.

Aid organisations have expressed alarm as the rate of new cases has more than doubled this month and community resistance to Ebola containment efforts in some cases has turned violent.

This is Congo’s tenth Ebola outbreak but this is the first time the deadly virus has appeared in the far northeast, an area of active rebel attacks that health workers have compared to a war zone.

WHO recently said the risk of regional spread was “very high” as confirmed cases were reported close to the heavily travelled border with Uganda.

Congo’s health ministry says there are now 179 confirmed cases, including 104 deaths.